I enjoyed Ghost Rider. To be clear, I was expecting to be disappointed so there wasn’t anywhere to go but up.

The movie has just enough tongue-in-cheekiness to make you crack up at the right points. If it took itself too seriously, I probably would have hated it. But Cage’s deadpan delivery of little wise cracks was great. How about the scene in the restaurant where Eva Mendes pulls a magic 8-ball out of her purse for a consultation! How about the scene where the Caretaker asks Johnny to sterilize the needle? Priceless! As a bonus, there’s a bit part played by Sam Elliott, who is one of the world’s coolest actors, and a very sexy man.

If you’re looking for dead serious vengeance go elsewhere. If you like a little whimsy with your bloodlust, Ghost Rider may work for you.

This film starts out reasonably mainly because Nicholas Cage is not in it. Strangely I was dreading his appearance and was not disappointed. He is absolutely dreadful. The minute he walks on the set the film nosedives and becomes unwatchable. The other irritation is the appearance of the ghouls or daemons.

The effects are to say the least…poor and the plotting is so bad it’s a joke. I got to the part where the son of the Devil (what the hell is Peter Fonda doing in this film?! – Oh I know it’s supposed to be ironic he was in Easy Rider…) kills all the “Hells Angels”. After that it just went downhill and I turned it off. Phew. Please Nick…RETIRE!!!